WEBVTT READILY AVAILABLE. LAURA: EVERY 15 MINUTES, A BABY IS BORN SUFFERING FROM OPIOID THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE. LAST WEEK, WE REPORTED THE PAINFUL TRUTH THAT MORE BABIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE FALLING VICTIM TO THE OPIOID CRISIS. MAX: IN THIS WEEK’S FAMILY MATTERS, KCCI’S ALYX SACKS TAKES US INSIDE THE NICU AT BLANK CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, WHERE THE SIMPLE ACT OF CUDDLING IS HELPING BABIES HEAL. ALYX: WIRED AND MONITERED CONSTANTLY. THE NICU AT BLANK CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IS FULL OF BABIES. SOME BORN PREMATURELY, OTHERS HAVE FALLEN ILL, BUT AN INCREASING NUMBER OF THEM -- >> WE HAPPEN TO SEE A LOT OF BABIES WHO ARE BORN ADDICTED TO DRUGS OF SOME SORT. ALYX: BUT THERE’S SOMETHING THESE MACHINES CAN’T DO. >> HI, SWEETHEART, HOW ARE YOU? ALYX: THE COMFORT OF -- >> TOUCH IS SO IMPORTANT TO BABIES. WITHOUT THAT, THEY WOULD BE FAILURE TO THRIVE. ALYX: TOUCH, THE SIMPLE ACT OF HOLDING A NEWBORN AND CUDDLING THEM. >> THE MORE CUDDLING AND TOUCH THESE BABIES GET, THE LESS MEDS THEY NEED. ALYX: ALL OF THEM NEED OF A LITTLE EXTRA CARE. AND THAT’S WHERE VOLUNTEER CUDDLERS COME IN. >> YOU’RE TRYING TO SMILE. ALYX: VICKIE AGNITSCH IS A RETIRED NURSE WHO NOW SPENDS A COUPLE HOURS ONCE A WEEK CUDDLING BABIES. >> IT’S THE BEST PART OF MY WEEK. ALYX: VICKIE IS ONE OF 22 VOLUNTEERS WHO ARE AVAILABLE 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK. >> WHEN THEY KNOW SOMEONE ELSE IS TOUCHING THEM, IT GIVES THEM THAT WARMTH AND SAFETY AND SECURITY THAT THEY CRAVE. YEAH, YOU, YOU’RE A SWEET BABY. THEY HAD THAT INSIDE THE MOM AND THEN THEY COME OUT INTO THIS COLD, BRIGHT WORLD. THEY DON’T HAVE THAT. SO ALL OF THAT SWADDLING, TOUCH, AND TALK HELPS THEIR DEVELOPMENT. ALYX: SOFT WHISPERS, SOFT SMILES, AND SOFT LITTLE FINGERS WRAPPED AROUND YOURS. >> SHE FINALLY GAVE UP AND WENT TO SLEEP. ALYX: THESE ARE THE MOMENTS. >> IT’S JUST COMFORTING. IT GIVES YOU A WARMTH ALL OVER. ALYX: THAT CAN HELP CORRECT THE COURSE OF VERY YOUNG LIVES. THE CUDDLER VOLUNTEER PROGRAM IS SO SOUGHT AFTER, THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTING VOLUNTEERS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THE WAITING LIST IS TWO YEARS OUT. BUT VOLUNTEERS ARE ALWAYS NEEDED AT BLANK. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP WE’VE , SET UP A LINK FOR YOU ON THE KCCI APP. REPORTING FOR FAMILY MATTERS KCCI 8 NEWS. ,M

More babies across the country are falling victim to the opioid crisis. Every 15 minutes, a baby is born suffering from opioid withdrawal, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Babies who end in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are dangerously ill or were born prematurely. Volunteer cuddlers can help provide a human connection to newborns who end up in NICU.“Touch is so important to babies,” said Vicki Agnitsch, a retired nurse who is one of 22 volunteers part of the Cuddler Volunteer program at Blank Children’s Hospital. “Without that, there would be failure to thrive.”She said the more cuddling and touch the babies receive, the less medications they need.Agnitsch has been a volunteer with the program since it's inception in 2011. She said her couple of hours a week cuddling babies is “the best part of my week.” “When they know someone else is touching them, it gives them that warmth and safety and security that they crave,” she said. “They had that inside the mom, and then they come out into this cold, bright world. They don’t have that, so all of that swaddling, touch and talk helps their development.” These moments can help correct the course of very young lives, she said.The Cuddler Volunteer program is very popular, and it’s not accepting volunteers at this time. It has a waiting list two years out.If you would like to volunteer at Blank Children’s Hospital in some other capacity, go to https://www.unitypoint.org/desmoines/becoming-a-volunteer.aspx. Due to medical privacy laws, we do not know the medical history of the baby seen in the footage.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) —

More babies across the country are falling victim to the opioid crisis. Every 15 minutes, a baby is born suffering from opioid withdrawal, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Babies who end in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit are dangerously ill or were born prematurely. Volunteer cuddlers can help provide a human connection to newborns who end up in NICU.

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“Touch is so important to babies,” said Vicki Agnitsch, a retired nurse who is one of 22 volunteers part of the Cuddler Volunteer program at Blank Children’s Hospital. “Without that, there would be failure to thrive.”

She said the more cuddling and touch the babies receive, the less medications they need.

Agnitsch has been a volunteer with the program since it's inception in 2011. She said her couple of hours a week cuddling babies is “the best part of my week.”

“When they know someone else is touching them, it gives them that warmth and safety and security that they crave,” she said. “They had that inside the mom, and then they come out into this cold, bright world. They don’t have that, so all of that swaddling, touch and talk helps their development.”

These moments can help correct the course of very young lives, she said.

The Cuddler Volunteer program is very popular, and it’s not accepting volunteers at this time. It has a waiting list two years out.